BICHSEL: 'Bix' was an advocate for peace and the poor

Thank you for telling about the life of Father Bill Bichsel ("Bix"), whom many consider to be a prophet and saint (TNT, 3-2).

Bix lived with the Catholic Worker group in downtown Tacoma helping the poor, marginalized and disadvantaged, although he was better known for advocating for peace and abolishing nuclear weapons.

Bix protested numerous times at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia. This school has a horrible history of teaching military tactics to Central and South American military officers, some of whom were implicated in the murders of not only thousands of innocent people, but also religious workers including Archbishop Oscar Romero.

Bix's more recent protests were against providing improved nuclear weapons and submarines at the Bangor Naval Base near Bremerton and the construction of a new naval base at Jeju Island, Korea. The approximate $700 billion U.S. military budget that is larger than the combined total amount of the next 16 largest military budgets, was one of Bix's favorite targets.

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Bix educated us that we have become a nation that is captive to the military industrial complex that former President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us about, including the absurdity of the U.S. Congress forcing its military to buy planes and weapons that it does not want.

Bix lived what Jesus teaches in the Gospels, that loving your enemies is the answer, not hatred and retaliation when someone strikes you. If all of us were like Bix, the world would be a much better place.